Is This How to Carry Your Gadgets?

mightypie writes "What's the best way of carrying a Visor Prism, mobile phone, cybertool, digital camera, wallet & keys? I just don't like the vest solution Somebody here must have the solution" That is the most disturbing ad I've seen. Someday my phone/camera/pda/mp3 player will be one tiny happy box. As it stands my solution is baggy pants w/ big pockets.

My proposal to ThinkGeek

[alfadir]

Monday, 25 Jun 2001, after thinking about this problem I went to the ThinkGeek website [thinkgeek.com]. I did not find this kind of product in the Work wear section but I found out that Willie [mailto] was responsible for new ideas [thinkgeek.com]. So I sent him this mail.

Subject: an idea..
Hi Willie..

Just had an idea for a new product..

You got an excelent line of different t-shirts and
golf-shirts. But there is something missing.

Working with computers you quickly gather alot of
different gadgets. Mobilephone, PDA, wallet,
cybertool, mp3player, caffeine.. etc..

Where do you put all that stuff when you want them
handy and you don't want to carry a backpack all
the time ?

There are backpacks that have a nice pocket for
the mobilephone on the "strap".. handy ? Yes..
But I don't realy like the idea of having this
thing too near my heart.. other alternative.. ?
frontpocket.. well.. another Willie in the
vicinity..
backpocket ? sit down and you have a puzzle..

I have a pair of "suittrousers" with a nice
mobilephone thighpocket..
very handy and is not in the way..

The ultimate GeekTrousers would be the army type
with alot of pockets to put survivalgear..
but going to work looking like Rambo will get
management thinking of disgruntled employees and
rampage shootings..
Also it is hard to find a matching shirt for
those important customer meetings.

So go to an army surplus store nearby.
stop by a carpentershop..
Buy all different kinds of trousers..
spend an afternoon in the warehouse trying to
find the pair of trousers that will carry the
most kinds of gadgets in a safe way..

From that info, design a pair that would fit
in the corporate world..

Jackets or wests with the same properties would
probably be ok too..

Feel free to send me a pair filled with gadgets
if the idea turns out to work.. ;)

Time for the "Engineer suit".. The "Business suit"
for Engineers..

/Fred

PS. Any misspelled words or gramatical errors are
due to the long way this mail had to travel
from Sweden to the US..
alot of error sources on the way...

I never heard from Willie or ThinkGeek so I guess they never thought this was a good idea. From the posts on Slashdot it seems that they would have made a buck if they had put a "suit" together.

OT: hand sanitizer (was Re:Helps lots)

[__aaahtg7394]

ok, what is it with chicks and hand sanitizer? i wouldn't be asking on slashdot, except that it's 0030 on a work night =)

is it just a "females have a sense of hygiene" thing, or something else? i have yet to meet a male that carries the stuff, but upon thinking about it, lots and lots of women carry it.

Speaking as a tailor...

[TheMCP]

I do tailoring for fun, so I tend to think of "how to carry large numbers of small objects" as a construction problem rather than a purchasing problem. It should be perfectly possible to make a jacket or shirt with a fairly large number of pockets, many of which could be subtly concealed. Also, by fastening the insides of the pockets to an interlining (a layer of fabric which comes between the outer, visible layer, and the interior lining) and using a good interfacing (a layer which stiffens and smooths the outer layer) it should also be possible to make the jacket ride in a way that doesn't look at all baggy and doesn't give a lot of clue to the volume of contents. Why isn't this on the market, then? Because it's a major pain in the ass to construct. Since everything would have to be subtle and hidden, all of the stitching would have to be done very carefully and a lot of extra work would have to be done to connect everything to the proper layers and connect all the layers to each other. (The alternative would be something like cargo pants, which have a lot of pockets on the surface, which is relatively easy to do.) So, if you really want clothes that let you carry a bunch of small electronic items in style, learn to sew.

The BDU pant

[_Sprocket_]

I agree. But I specifically like military-issue BDU pants.

All pockets are comfortable and fairly large. The side cargo pockets can accomodate a few small items like a PDA to large items such as your favorite beverage (each pocket can easily hold 12oz 3 cans). The pockets are sewen in a way that allows you to leave the forward buttons unbuttoned to easily slip items in and out without fear of them slipping out on their own.

I tend to like the stereotypical black BDU, but you can get them in a number of other solid colors which don't stand out as much as the numerous cammo varients. You can get different "weights" - usually summer and winter. I prefer the lighter summer weights as they breath well and are even comfortable in the humid southern US. A cotton and polyester blend avoids fading as much as 100% cotton (which fades and wears fairly quickly). Otherwise, BDU pants are very well constructed and will take a good beating (although you have to take some scissors and de-string all the loose sewing threads).

There are two problems with BDU pants. First, your items don't have much protection. You have to keep that in mind as you sit in a tight chair, lie down, or otherwise squeeze between things.

The second issue is fashion. BDU pants won't be acceptable in more strict environments. However, they do look fine with both T-Shirts and polo shirts.

That ain't a vest....

[Wintermancer]

...Now these [armynavymi...urplus.com] are vests!

Yup. Pouches for everything you could ever need and then some. Palm? Check. Phone? Check. Nerf-dart gun? Check. Junk food? Check.

Best of all, you're ready to go in case you have an issue with the accounting department regading your IRS withholding taxes and such! Err, that is, out the door, not to switch with a Glock and scads of clips....

It's about quality, not quantity

[ciurana]

Greetings!

During my last trip to Europe I resolved that I wouldn't take my Compaq notebook (it's a light machine but it requires carrying an extra bag). As an experiment, I tried taking with me only the following:

• Standard Palm V
• Palm V folding keyboard (same footpring as Palm V)
• The Palm V universal recharger (110 - 220 VAC)
• The Palm V analog modem
• A set of wall adapters for Russian, German, and French wall and telephone outlets
• Special software? A copy of Top Gun SSH for the Palm
• Anything I was bound to need while meeting with customers (presentations, product samples, etc.) was pre-copied to a secure HTTP site in our network so I could download it upon my arrival using my customer's equipment.

This was a 2-week trip. During this time, I scheduled things so that I didn't have to look at e-mail every single day. Added a vacation e-mail auto-reply just in case. Any notes that I might've needed for the duration of the trip were downloaded to the Palm as Memo documents (no extraneous formatting).

I carried all these things in the external zippered pockets of my traveling leather jacket:

• Palm V and passport: Left breast pocket
• Keyboard: Right breast pocket
• Modem: Left hip pocket
• AC recharger and adapters: Right hip pocket

I had excellent results. During the trip I had the option of connecting with the Palm and sending quick replies, or heading to an Internet café, install a copy of SSH, check my e-mail and optionally review documents on my server(s), etc. Not carrying a lot of stuff, and having a device with only limited capabilities allowed me to be more productive about what I was doing during the trip. I only had my carry-on bag with 2 weeks worth of clothes, so I was in-and-out of every airport I visited (SFO, DeGaulle, Frankfort, Sheremetyevo, Cheboksari, and Toronto [I can't remember its name]) in less than 20 minutes, including customs.

I've been traveling for business for 12 years doing consulting and installing the software we produce worldwide. This trip taught me that it's not the quantity of what you carry but the quality and the planning what count. It was the first trip without my laptop/notebook since 1992.

The hardest part was synchronizing all the materials I produced while I was gone with the rest of the work at the company. It took a lot of cutting and pasting and a couple of revisions.

This experiment was an extension to my habit of not carrying a mobile phone. I own one but I don't even know the number, and I only carry it when I think I may have to call someone that I couldn't reach at any other time. I used to carry my phone at all times and spend lots of time using it. I realized then that my time is very precious and so is my customers's. No phone calls at all times means no interruptions while I'm taking care of business, dining out with my friends, at the movies or theatre, etc. I've never lost a deal because I couldn't take a call right that minute. If I'm expecting something critical, then I stay at my office where the phone and all other resources (including people in my staff) are available to take care of business.

Cheers!

E

What you need is a good display.

[absurd_spork]

My preference for a wearable is the good old shoulder holster design. Not very roomy, but wearables should be small and lightweight. Wireless networking, CF Microdrive, Twiddler [handykey.com] keyboard, and finally this amazing thing [aeinnovations.com] for display (this guy fits a HMD into normal sunglasses, and it looks 100% cool!!)

Re:Speaking as a tailor...

[JabberWokky]

So, if you really want clothes that let you carry a bunch of small electronic items in style, learn to sew.

Damn right. I'm no tailor, however, I am big into costuming (Rocky Horror, the SCA, Cosplay, etc). My "trenchcoat of holding" is legendary - an Adolpho trench modified to carry even very heavy objects with loops, buttons, huge internal pockets, etc. At Anime Festival Orlando, in addition to the usual con equipment - first aid kit, toolkit, Palm, journal, two sandwiches, several Three Musketeers bars etc, I carried a large bottle of Skyy Vodka, a decent sized bottle of Tullimore Dew, Cuervo Gold, and a canister containing the five Thinkgeek shot glasses. Nobody guessed I had anything in the trench as I walked around the con. I walked around with no weight or "sag" problem, thanks to a nice over the shoulder, around the neck webbing system that displaces weight.

I want to add a laptop, but the "flat and wide" dimensions creates a problem with making it hideable under the fabric - and the Picturebook, etc, seem to lack enough usefulness to justify buying one. When HMDs become decent (I have a Glasstron right now), I will probably use it, but attached to a laptop in my trench - I want a usable keyboard, dammit.

--
Evan

Helps lots

[KahunaBurger]

I just conferred with a female friend of mine who's into wearables and she says that purses w/computers are impractical and that other spaces on females tends to be not roomy enough if you don't want to run around DDD.

Well, this female says that the right size purse/shoulder bag is fine. I mean, my teeny wallet/purse will only hold my swiss army knife, palm and tiny cell phone, but it doesn't hold my camera, bottle of excederin, first aid supplies, spare dog cookies, checkbook, book that I'm reading right now, hand lotion, charecter sheet and spell list, waterless hand sanitizer, palm folding heyboard, flashlight, interview tape recorder, small sewing kit, luna bars, bottle of water, pack of tissues or CDs I'm going to listen to at work. So unless I'm just going out for a specific time and goals, I carry my larger purse, big black bag or backpack.

If you've got a bunch of stuff you need to carry, get a satchel, fanny pack, shoulder bag, backpack, sporanz or whatever you can wear without feeling that your masculinity is threatened. Or that vest could be cool when it isn't super hot out and you don't have to wear business wear.

Kahuna Burger

Re:make a fashion statement!

[Moofie]

And I'm a large scary man, and when I'm not carrying my Timbuk2 DeeDog [timbuk2.com] I carry my Mountainsmith Tour Pack [mountainsmith.com] (which has been discontinued for some very nice looking newer versions). I've never been accused of being effeminate, and I ALWAYS have the gear that I (and everybody in my immediate vicinity) seems to need. I've got tools for everything from solving differential equations to rescuing stranded motorists, and room for a great big novel too.

Don't ask me, I use my belt.

[Geek In Training]

Every day, my rather ample 42-inch waistline has belted onto it:

1) Sprint PCS cellphone in leather black belt-clip case
2) Handspring Visor Deluxe in black Neoprene belt-clip pouch
3) Magnetic Corporate Employee ID badge on retractable belt-clip tether (to get me where I need to go)
4) Two-way text/email pager unit with built-in mini keyboard... in black belt-clip of course

...and the most useful tool ever invented...

5) The Leatherman SuperTool ($49.95 at your local WalMart) in black leather pouch.

I have looked at many other options, but nothing else seems as practical and cost-effective. I may be ridiculed by the suits... and yes, I *DO* look like a certain episode of Dilbert... but I'm always ready to go. I do a quick "feeling" checklist on my way out the door every morning, to make sure I have everything.

I could probably make it through any given day without all of the "toys," EXCEPT the Leatherman. I have used it at least once every day since I purchased it 18 months ago.